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THE 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 



OF 



CHILDEEN AND YOUTH: 



BY THE 



REV. SAMUEL MILLER, D. D., 



AND THE 



REV. J. J. JANEWAY, D. D. 



PHILADELPHIA: ~- 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 



f*--c 



r«o 



•H 



s 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by 

A. W. MITCHELL, M. D., 

m the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 



Stereotyped 'Jy 

S. DOUGLAS WYETP, • 

No. 7 Pear St., Philadelphia. 

Printed by 
WM. S. MARTIEN. 



REPORT 



TO THE 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 



ON 



CHEISTIAN EDUCATION. 

BY THE 

REV. SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. 



(3) 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

In the General Assembly of 1839, the fol- 
lowing Resolution was adopted, viz : 

" Resolved, That the Rev. Samuel Miller, 
Archibald Alexander, Charles Hodge, J. Ad- 
dison Alexander, and James Carnahan, be a 
committee to inquire whether any, and, if 
any, what measures ought to be adopted for 
securing to the children and young people of 
our Church more full advantages of Christian 
education than they have hitherto enjoyed." 

In pursuance of the foregoing appointment, 
the following Report was presented to the 
General Assembly, at their sessions in 1840, 
by the chairman of the committee, the Rev. 
Samuel Miller, D. D. and by a unanimous 
resolution it was referred to the Board of 
Publication, with a view to its publication. 

1 * (5) 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 



The longer and the more seriously the Com- 
mittee have deliberated on the adoption of 
measures " for securing to the children and 
young people of our Church more full advan- 
tages of Christian education than they have 
hitherto enjoyed," the deeper has become 
their impression, at once, of its transcendent 
importance, and of the exceeding great diffi- 
culty, in the present state of our country and 
of the Church, of doing it justice, even in 
theory, and much more of proposing such 
plans as will admit of general and convenient 
execution. 

There can be no doubt that one great end 
for which the Church was established by her 
infinitely wise and gracious Head was, that 
she might train up a godly seed, enlightened 
in the truth, and imbued with the sentiments 
and habits adapted to the maintenance and 

7 



8 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

spread of our holy religion, in all its purity 
and power. 

This great principle is not merely left to be 
inferred from the general nature and character 
of the church, but is essentially included in 
the ordinances appointed by her Divine Head, 
and in the direct and solemn commands with 
which her statute book abounds. Hence, in 
the ancient Church, her children, while yet 
infants, were recognized and sealed as mem- 
bers ; were carried up at an early age to the 
great feasts at Jerusalem ; and, that they 
might be taught to take an interest in all that 
pertained to the people of God, the command 
of Jehovah was — " These words shall be in 
thine heart, and thou shalt teach them dili- 
gently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them 
when thou sittest in thine house, and when 
thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest 
down, and when thou risest up." Nay more 
— it was not only enjoined on parents under 
that economy, to teach their children all the 
commands of God, and continually to incul- 
cate obedience to them, but also to make them 
familiar with the history of the Church — con- 
tinually reminding them of all Jehovah's deal- 
ing with his covenant people ; his signal de- 
liverances ; his heavy judgments ; and the 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 9 

various ways by which he led them on, and 
accomplished his purposes toward them. 

When the New Testament economy was 
introduced, the same great principles of duty 
toward the children of the Church were not 
only retained, but with the increasing light 
and spirituality of the new dispensation, were 
extended in their application, and urged with 
new force. Still, while in their infancy, the 
Church, by a solemn rite, was commanded to 
recognize her children as the members of her 
body ; to regard herself as their moral parent ; 
and to make their early instruction and disci- 
pline an object of unceasing care and labour. 
Some of the examples of this care, and of the 
happy results of it, recorded in the early his- 
tory of the Church, are at once memorable 
and instructive. 

The pious " witnesses for the truth " in the 
dark ages, were, perhaps, more remarkable for 
nothing than for their faithfulness in the in- 
struction and discipline of their children. In 
particular, the devoted and exemplary Wal- 
denses were probably indebted, under God, 
to their peculiar diligence in the discharge of 
this duty, for their remarkable success in keep- 
ing their body together ; in transmitting their 
testimony from generation to generation ; and 



10 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

in remaining so long as they did, a beacon for 
the admiration and guidance of the Church in 
after times. Historians tell us that these pious 
people were in the habit of employing every 
hour that they could rescue from labour and 
sleep, in gaining religious knowledge them- 
selves, and in imparting it to the children and 
young people of their community ; that they 
were careful to prepare excellent catechisms, 
and other formularies for their youth ; and 
that their pastors made the religious instruc- 
tion of youth a leading and unceasing object 
of their labours. 

In imitation of their example, the most 
pure and enlightened of the Reformed 
churches have ever directed their attention 
to the education of their children as an object 
of primary importance in promoting the great 
interests of religion. Among these churches, 
that of Scotland is, on several accounts, most 
instructive and most interesting to us, as 
bearing to us, more than any other, the rela- 
tion of parent. This Church, from the ear- 
liest period of her establishment, has made 
careful provision for the early instruction and 
discipline of her children. By different acts 
of her General Assembly, from time to time, 
she has declared their education to be under 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 11 

the supervision and government of her judica- 
tories, and directed the course of their studies 
accordingly. The General Assembly, soon 
after its first formation, in 1560, and at differ- 
ent times afterwards, directed the several 
presbyteries to settle a church school in every 
parish, and to see that the teacher employed 
in each was a pious, orthodox, well qualified 
man, adapted to instruct youth in the Scrip- 
tures, in the catechism, and in all the most 
important things, as well as in the elements 
of literature. By an act of the General As- 
sembly of 1642, a grammar school was erect- 
ed in every presbytery. The Assembly of 
1700 enjoined on all presbyteries to "take 
special, particular, and exact notice," of all 
schoolmasters, governors, and instructors of 
youth, within their respective bounds, and 
oblige them to subscribe the Confession of 
Faith ; and, in case of continued negligence, 
(after admonition,) error, or immorality, or 
not being careful to educate those committed 
to their charge in the Protestant Reformed 
religion — pointed out the mode in which they 
were to be punished. By the Assembly of 
1706, it was enjoined that presbyteries visit 
the grammar schools within their respective 
bounds, twice a year, by some of their num- 



12 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

ber. And, finally, in 1638, the General As- 
sembly revived and ratified the acts of pre- 
ceding Assemblies, by which visitations of 
colleges were directed to be kept up by com- 
mittees of the Assembly ; and the principal 
regents, professors, masters, and doctors 
within the same were required to be tried 
concerning their piety, their soundness in the 
faith, their ability to discharge the duties of 
their calling, and the honesty of their conver- 
sation. 

Several other Reformed churches might be 
cited, as furnishing eminent and instructive 
examples of fidelity in discharging the great 
duty which it is the object of this report to 
recommend. The Church of Holland will 
alone be noticed at present. By the synodi- 
cal assemblies of that church it is directed 
that the consistories in every congregation, 
shall provide good schoolmasters, who shall 
be able not only to instruct children in read- 
ing, writing, grammar, and the liberal sci- 
ences, but also to teach them the catechism, 
and the first principles of religion. Every 
schoolmaster was to be obliged to subscribe 
the Confession of Faith of the Belgic churches, 
or the Heidelberg Catechism. With regard 
to instructing children in the catechism, a 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 13 

three-fold attention to it is solemnly enjoined 
in that church ; viz : first, Domestic, by Pa- 
rents; second, Scholastic, by Schoolmasters; 
and third, Ecclesiastic, by Pastors, assisted 
by other members of their consistories ; and 
ail whose duty it is to inspect schools, are 
"admonished to make this an object of their 
very first care." It is further provided, that 
no person shall be appointed to the charge of 
any school who is not a member in full com- 
munion with the Reformed Belgic Church, 
and who shall not previously have subscribed 
the Confession of Faith and Catechism of the 
Church, and solemnly promised to instruct 
the children committed to his care in the 
principles contained in the standards of the 
Church. More than this ; — it is enjoined that 
every schoolmaster shall employ two half 
days in every week, not only in hearing the 
children repeat, but in assisting them to un- 
derstand the catechism. And to insure fidelity 
in these teachers, it is made the duty of the 
pastors and elders of each church, frequently 
to visit the schools ; to encourage and direct 
the teachers in the proper method of cate- 
chizing ; to examine the children " with mild 
severity;" and to excite them to industry 
and piety, by holy exhortations, by season- 
2 



14 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

able commendations, and by little appropriate 
rewards. 

Nor is this zealous and persevering labour 
in the religious training of youth confined to 
Protestant churches. It is well known, that 
among some of the Roman Catholic congre- 
gations of Europe, the children are imbued 
with a knowledge of their erroneous system, 
with an indefatigable diligence and patience 
which may well put to shame the professors 
of a more scriptural creed. The consequence 
is, that so large a number of that denomina- 
tion of professing Christians have an attach- 
ment to their sect, and an expertness in de- 
fending their superstitious peculiarities, rarely 
found among the mass of Protestants. 

When your committee contrast these facts 
with the state of things now existing, and 
which has for a long time existed, and been 
manifestly growing in the Presbyterian 
Church, in regard to the religious training of 
her children, they experience a degree of 
mortification which it is not easy to express. 
For a number of years, indeed, after the 
planting of our Church in this country, that 
portion of our members which had migrated 
from Scotland, or the north of Ireland, and 
their immediate successors, retained much of 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 15 

their European habit in regard to this 
matter. Their children were, to a consider- 
able extent, trained, as was customary in the 
land of their fathers, and made perfectly fa- 
miliar with the catechisms of the church, and 
the elementary principles of religion. But 
even this remnant of European fidelity has, 
in a great measure, disappeared. The cate- 
chisms of our Church have nothing like the 
currency, even among this class of our young 
people that they had fifty years ago. From 
many parts of the Church in which they 
were then habitually taught, they are now, 
in a great measure, banished. The religious 
instruction of our youth, instead of becoming 
more ample and faithful, as the facilities for 
its accomplishment have multiplied — has un- 
doubtedly declined, both as to extent and 
fidelity. The children of church-members 
are, in a multitude of cases, totally neglected, 
and left to ignorance and heathenism. In 
other instances, they are committed to the 
tuition of the intemperate, the profane, and 
the profligate. Not unfrequently they are 
sent to institutions taught by papists, or other 
errorists, who are known to make every 
effort to instil their erroneous opinions into 
the minds of the youth committed to their 



16 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

care. It may be doubted whether there is a 
body of people at this time on earth, so or- 
thodox in their creed, and at the same time 
so deplorably delinquent in the religious edu- 
cation of their children, as the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States. 

In this state of things, no wonder that so 
many of the children of our beloved Church 
grow up in ignorance, and regardless of the 
religion of their fathers ; some becoming pro- 
fane and impious ; others turning aside to 
various forms of fatal error ; and a large ma- 
jority feeling little attachment to the good old 
way, in which they ought to have been faith- 
fully and prayerfully trained. And it is 
painful to recollect that, amidst this unhappy 
delinquency, the judicatories of our Church 
have in a great measure slumbered over the 
evil, and have taken no systematic or efficient 
order for the removal of it. 

The mischiefs flowing from this neglect of 
early religious instruction are numberless 
and deplorable. 

The first and most serious of these mischiefs 
is, its tendency to destroy the souls of our 
children. 

On the one hand, when the early youth of 
children is passed without proper instruction 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 17 

in divine things, it is difficult to measure or 
conceive the thick darkness which generally 
covers their minds, and appears to defy all 
ordinary endeavours to impart to them the 
knowledge of evangelical truth. When men 
grow old in ignorance, as well as in sin, 
they are surrounded with a double barrier 
against the entrance of heavenly light. It 
becomes almost necessary to teach them a 
new language before the instructor in such, 
cases, can be understood. Accordingly the 
probability of such persons being ever brought 
to a saving acquaintance with the gospel, is 
greatly diminished, and, in many cases, render- 
ed in a great measure, hopeless. On the other 
hand, when the seeds of truth and duty are ear- 
ly and faithfully sown in the minds of youth ; 
though they may long lie buried, there is 
strong ground of hope that they will eventu- 
ally spring up, and bring forth a rich harvest. 
S Who can estimate then, the cruelty, the awful 
guilt of those, whether parents or pastors, who 
neglect that which is so closely connected, 
not only with the present happiness, but with 
the everlasting welfare of every youth com- 
mitted to their care ? v 

Closely allied with that which was last sta- 
ted, is another evil resulting from the neglect 
2* 



18 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

of a religious education of the children of the 
Church ; and that is, the frequency with which 
our young people may be expected, in such 
case, to depart from the church of their fa- 
thers, and either stray into communions of the 
most corrupt character, or become totally re- 
gardless of religion in any form. The fact is, 
even if the preaching of a pastor be ever so 
sound and able ; yet if he neglect the appro- 
priate training of the young people of his 
charge, and leave them to the small gleanings 
of instruction which they will be likely to 
catch by the ear from the pulpit, they may be 
expected to grow up little better than heathen 
in fact, though Christian in name. The con- 
sequence must inevitably' be, the decay and 
final ruin of those flocks which have not some 
other means by which to supply the places of 
their dying members, than the seed of the 
church. 

Further ; the pastor who neglects the reli- 
gious training of the young people of his 
charge, will find them altogether unprepared 
to profit by his public ministry. If a pastor 
desires to render his discourses from the pul- 
pit as profitable as possible to the youth of 
his flock, he cannot take a more direct course 
for the attainment of his object/than to attend 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 19 

to them with parental diligence and affection ; 
to become personally acquainted with them ; 
to meet them frequently in private as a body ; 
to catechize them ; to render them familiar 
with his person, his modes of thinking and 
speaking, and to imbue their minds with those 
elementary principles of divine knowledge 
which will prepare them to hear him in the 
pulpit with intelligence, with respect, and with 
profit. If a preacher wished for the most fa- 
vourable opportunity conceivable for prepar- 
ing the youth of his charge to listen to his 
sermons to the greatest advantage, it would 
not be easy to devise one more admirably 
suited to his purpose, than to meet them, by 
themselves, once a week, in a paternal and 
affectionate manner ; to teach them the ele- 
mentary principles of that system which his 
discourses from the pulpit are intended to ex- 
plain and inculcate ; thus to accustom them 
to his topics, his phraseology, his manner, his 
whole course of instruction, and prepare them 
to receive the richest benefit from his public 
discourses. There can be no doubt that one 
great reason why many young people receive 
so little profit from the pulpit discourses of 
their minister is, that he has taken so little 
pains to open their minds by previous in- 



20 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

struction ; to prepare the soil for the seed ; to 
prepossess them in favour of the substance 
and mode of his teaching. That minister who 
desires that his preaching may make the deep- 
est and most favourable impression on the 
minds of the children and young people of his 
charge, is an infatuated man, regardless of 
all the dictates of reason, experience, and the 
word of God, if he does not employ himself 
diligently in labouring to pave the way for 
their reception of his more formal and public 
instruction. Young people thus prepared to 
attend on his preaching, will, of course, un- 
derstand it better ; receive it more readily 
and respectfully ; and be more likely, by the 
grace of God, to lay it up in their hearts, and 
practice it in their lives. 

Again ; the pastor who neglects the reli- 
gious instruction of the children of his flock, 
neglects one of the most direct and powerful 
means of winning the parents themselves to 
the knowledge and love of the gospel. It 
cannot have escaped the notice of any atten- 
tive observer of human affairs, that there is 
no avenue to the hearts of parents more direct 
and certain than diligent and affectionate at- 
tention to their children. On the one hand, 
it would seem as if they could often bear to 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 21 

be themselves neglected, if their beloved child- 
ren be followed with manifestations of inter- 
est and good will. And, on the other hand, 
if they see their children overlooked and neg- 
lected, scarcely anything in their view can 
atone for this negligence. Instances of the 
most striking character have occurred, in 
which parents appeared to receive the strong- 
est impressions in favour of particular minis- 
ters, and in favour of the cause in which they 
were engaged, chiefly because those minis- 
ters had given their children affectionate pa- 
ternal counsel and instruction, and appeared 
to manifest a peculiar interest in their tempo- 
ral and eternal welfare. Nor is this all. It 
is undoubtedly a fact, that, in some cases, one 
of the best modes of addressing parents on 
the great subject of religion, is through the 
medium of their children. The catechizing, 
instructing, and exhorting of children in the 
presence of their parents, have frequently 
proved the means of the conversion of those 
parents. And it has often happened that the 
manifest improvement, and especially the 
hopeful conversion of children in catechetical 
and Bible classes, have been signally blessed 
to the spiritual benefit of their parents, and, 
indeed, of the whole families to which they 



22 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

belonged. What must be thought, then, 
of the indolence or blindness of that pastor 
who can willingly forego all these blessings, 
and incur all the opposite evils, by habitually 
neglecting the children of the flock committed 
to his care ? 

It follows, of course, that the pastor who 
does not diligently attend to the religious in- 
struction of the young people of his charge, 
is blind to the comfort, the acceptance, and 
the popularity of his own ministry. Why is 
it that so many ministers, before reaching an 
infirm old age, grow out of date with their 
people, and lose their influence with them ? 
Especially, why is it that the younger part of 
their flocks feel so little attraction to them, 
dislike their preaching, and sigh for a change 
of pastors ? There is reason to believe that 
this has seldom occurred, except in cases in 
which pastors have been eminently negligent 
of the religious training of their young people ; 
in which, however respectable they may have 
been for their talents, their learning, and their 
worth, in other respects, they have utterly 
failed to bind the affections of the children to 
their persons ; to make every one of them re- 
vere and love them as affectionate fathers; and, 
by faithful attentions, to inspire them with the 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 23 

strongest sentiments of veneration and filial 
attachment. Those whose range of observa- 
tion has been considerable, have, no doubt, 
seen examples of ministers, whose preaching 
was by no means very striking or attractive, 
yet retaining to the latest period of their lives, 
the affections of all committed to their care, 
and especially being the favourites of the 
young people, who have rallied round them 
in their old age, and contributed not a little to 
render their last days both useful and happy. 
It may be doubted whether such a case ever 
occurred, excepting where the pastor had be- 
stowed much attention on the young people 
of his charge. 

Such are some of the evils which flow from 
neglect on the part of the Church to train up 
her children in the knowledge of her doctrines 
and order. She may expect to see a majority 
of those children — even children of professors 
of religion — growing up in ignorance and pro- 
fligacy; of course forsaking the church of 
their fathers ; leaving her either to sink, or to 
be filled up by converts from without ; turn- 
ing away from those pastors who neglected 
them ; and causing such pastors to experience 
in their old age, the merited reward of un- 
faithful servants. 



24 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

The truth is, if there be any one part of the 
pastor's duty, which, more than almost any 
other, deserves to be considered as vital and 
fundamental, it is that which bears immedi- 
ately on the seed of the Church — the nursery 
of Christ's family — that branch of his labour 
which has for its object the extending and per- 
petuating the Church, by raising up a godly 
seed to take the place of their parents when 
they shall be laid in the dust. 

In this view of the subject, shall nothing 
be done by the supreme judicatory of our 
Church, to rouse the attention, and direct the 
efforts of our churches to this most important, 
but long neglected concern ? That something 
ought to be done is manifest. It is surely 
high time to awake out of sleep, and inquire 
what we can do, and ought to do, as a Christ- 
ian denomination. 

The committee are not unmindful of the 
difficulties which beset this great subject ; and 
which will render a prompt and thorough re- 
turn to our duty in regard to it, an arduous, 
if not an almost impracticable task ; difficulties 
arising from our long continued habits of delin- 
quency — from the scattered state of the popu- 
lation in many parts of our Church — from the 
sentiments in favour of a spurious liberality, 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 25 

which prevail so peculiarly and extensively 
among many denominations of Christians in 
the United States, and among none more than 
Presbyterians — and from the constant and in- 
defatigable labour required for a faithful dis- 
charge of the duty recommended. But great 
as these difficulties are, they may be sur- 
mounted by faith, patience, labour, and pray- 
er. And it is evident, that even if the diffi- 
culties attending the faithful discharge of the 
duty in question were far more numerous and 
formidable than they are, the rewards would, 
more than an hundred fold, counterbalance 
all the care and toil bestowed on the object. 
At any rate, if our delinquency is ever to be 
repaired, and any real improvement in this 
great field of Christian effort attained, the 
sooner we begin the better. The souls of our 
children are precious — the exigencies of the 
church are pressing — and every hour we lose 
in commencing the work of reform, is a loss 
to all the best interests of the Church, and the 
world — a loss stretching into eternity. 

After these preliminary remarks, the Com- 
mittee would beg leave to present a sketch 
of what they think may and ought to be at- 
tempted in reference to this important sub- 
ject. They are aware that what they are 
3 



26 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

about to propose, has nothing of novelty in 
it ; but, if adopted, would be only returning, 
in substance, to the forgotten and neglected 
usages of our venerated fathers, both in Eu- 
rope and in our own country. And although 
they are sensible that some of their sugges- 
tions may not equally apply, and may not be 
capable of being carried into execution with 
equal convenience, in all the churches of our 
denomination — yet they would fain hope, 
that a plan may be suggested, which, if car- 
ried into effect, may be productive of some 
benefit to the rising generation. They would, 
therefore, most respectfully propose to the 
Assembly the adoption of the following re- 
commendations, to be sent down to all the 
subordinate judicatories and churches under 
our care. 

I. It is recommended, that the subject of 
the Christian education of children be fre- 
quently brought before the people, in the in- 
structions and devotional exercises of the pul- 
pit, in a manner so pointed and solemn, as 
may be adapted to inform the minds, and im- 
press the consciences of parents and church 
officers, in regard to a matter so little under- 
stood, and so little laid to heart even by many 
who profess to be truly pious. 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 27 

II. It is recommended, that when pastors 
visit families, whether the visitation be per- 
formed formally or otherwise, all the children 
of every family be attended to with particu- 
lar care ; that their names be taken down ; 
that every important circumstance concerning 
each, be recorded ; that each be affection- 
ately noticed and addressed ; that God's 
claim to them be presented and urged ; and 
that every practicable method be adopted to 
render such interviews interesting and in- 
structive. For this purpose, there may be a 
little tract given to one ; an appropriate, 
striking anecdote related to another; and 
some expression of interest and regard suited 
to win the confidence of a third, and so of the 
whole youthful circle. This would require 
no expense — nothing, at least, but thought 
and prayer ; as tracts and other little publica- 
tions suitable to be thus employed, may be 
had, if not gratuitously, at least on very easy 
terms, and to almost any extent. 

III. It is recommended, that every congre- 
gation shall establish one or more Church 
Schools, adapted to the instruction of children 
between six and ten years of age. These 
primary schools had better, usually, be taught 
by females, decidedly pious, intelligent, and 



28 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

of known attachment to the doctrines and or- 
der of our Church. These teachers ought to 
be selected by the church session, and go- 
verned by rules formed by that body. Fe- 
males would be preferable as teachers in such 
schools; because they may, for the most 
part, be had on more economical terms than 
teachers of the other sex ; and because, if of 
a suitable character, they will be apt to train 
up their pupils with more soft and gentle 
manners. As children of this tender age 
cannot travel far to school, there ought to be 
several of this class of schools in every con- 
gregation of any size; as not more than 
twenty-five, or, at most, thirty scholars of 
this age ought ever to be placed under one 
teacher. In these schools, the Bible ought 
to be used every day, and the Shorter Cate- 
chism of the Church recited at least once 
every week ; and the pastor and elders ought 
frequently to visit them, and see that the 
teachers are faithful ; that all the methods of 
instruction employed are of the best kind; 
and that the manners and habits of the child- 
ren are such as become those who are train- 
ing up for usefulness here, and for the family 
of Christ hereafter. In these lower schools, 
it may be proper that the females be some- 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 29 

times employed, at the discretion of the 
teachers, in sewing, and in other occupa- 
tions adapted to their sex. The exercises, 
every day, should be opened and closed with 
prayer. 

IV. It is recommended, that in populous 
towns, infant schools be established as far as 
circumstances will admit. These of course, 
should be placed under the direction of pious, 
enlightened females ; and it is important that 
all the religious exercises which take place in 
them be in conformity with the usages of 
our own church; and that nothing be ad- 
mitted which will have a tendency to intro- 
duce forms which distinguish other denomi- 
nations. In these infant schools, the simpler 
portions of the Holy Scriptures, the " Cate- 
chism for Young Children," furnished by 
the Assembly's Board of Publication, and 
such oral instruction as may be adapted to 
the weakest capacities, ought to be constantly 
employed. 

V. It is recommended, that there be estab- 
lished in every presbytery at least one gram- 
mar school or academy, and in the larger and 
more opulent presbyteries more than one, 
adapted for training youth in the more ad- 
vanced branches of knowledge, and preparing 

3* 



30 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

such of them as may desire it, for an intro- 
duction into college. These academies ought 
to be under the immediate instruction of ripe 
and accomplished scholars — men in full com- 
munion with the Presbyterian church ; of 
pious and exemplary deportment ; and of 
known attachment to the faith and order of 
our church. These institutions ought to be 
under the supervision of the respective pres- 
byteries in which they are placed, and a com- 
mittee of ministers and elders appointed by 
each presbytery to visit them, and to watch 
over the whole course of instruction and dis- 
cipline in them. It is by no means, indeed, 
intended to advise that no pupils be received 
into such academies but such as are connected 
with the Presbyterian Church, but it is in- 
tended to be earnestly recommended, that all 
the religious exercises in the same be strictly 
Presbyterian in their character ; and that no 
youth be allowed to enter them, or to continue 
a day in them, who is not perfectly correct 
and unexceptionable in his moral character, 
and disposed to treat the ordinances of religion 
with entire respect. In these academies, it is 
recommended that the Larger Catechism of 
our church be made a class book ; and, if not 
wholly committed to memory, at least made 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 31 

the subject of recitation and commentary, 
and accompanied with such other reading and 
oral instruction as may be adapted to make 
the pupils familiar with the faith and order 
of the Presbyterian Church, and with the 
considerations which explain and vindicate 
the same. 

VI. It is recommended, that when any of 
our youth are destined to enjoy the privileges 
of a college or university, there be the utmost 
care exercised in selecting for them those in- 
stitutions in which their moral and religious 
training will receive the most faithful atten- 
tion ; institutions in which, as far as they can 
be found, the professors are orthodox and 
pious, and in which the whole weight of their 
instruction and influence will be thrown into 
the scale of pure and undefiled religion, as 
well as sound learning. No child of the 
Church ought ever to be sent to any seminary 
of learning, however high its literary charac- 
ter, in which sound religious instruction is not 
made a constant and governing object of at- 
tention. That parent who selects for his son 
a college in which his moral and religious in- 
terests will run the risk of being sacrificed, or 
even jeoparded, for the sake of indulging 
some petty taste or prejudice, is chargeable 



32 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

with an unfaithfulness and cruelty of the most 
inexcusable kind. In several parts of our 
Church, academies and colleges have been 
founded by presbyteries and synods, and 
placed entirely under the direction of the ju- 
dicatories which founded them. This, where 
it can be done, is a wise plan ; and adapted 
more effectually to secure to our youth the 
advantages of thorough and unshackled re- 
ligious training, than is possible upon any 
other plan. 

VII. It is recommended that all parents 
and heads of families be in the constant habit 
of assembling the children and youth of their 
families in the evening of every Lord's day, 
and spending at least an hour in attending to 
the recitation of the catechism, and such other 
modes of oral instruction in divine things, as 
the capacity and character of each may re- 
quire. Let the head of the family, whether 
male or female, as the case may be, take this 
opportunity of speaking seriously to each of 
the young persons present, and administering 
an affectionate but solemn rebuke, for any 
disorderly conduct on that day, or the pre- 
ceding week, closing with exhortation and a 
comprehensive prayer. And that this do- 
mestic service may not interfere with attend- 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 33 

ance on public services which, in some 
churches, are statedly held on that evening; 
in such churches, let the hour devoted to this 
family interview be the one immediately pre- 
ceding the evening meal. In all cases in 
which the catechism is recited, let one or two 
proof texts be carefully quoted and committed 
to memory, for the support of each answer ; 
and let the children be always reminded that 
the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith 
and practice, and that the catechism owes all 
its authority and value to the fact, that it con- 
tains the system of doctrine taught in the 
Holy Scriptures. 

VIII. It is recommended, that pastors and 
church sessions be diligently attentive to the 
catechizing and religious instruction of all the 
children and young people under their care, 
through the whole course of their childhood 
and youth. No recitation of the catechism 
in any other school or place ought to super- 
sede this. However constantly and faithfully 
it may be attended to by the parents, or by 
Sabbath-school teachers ; still the pastor and 
and the elders ought to deem it a privilege as 
well as a duty, to convene the children of the 
church, and to endeavour to establish that 
acquaintance with them, and that influence 



34 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

over them, which will be likely to result in 
rich advantages to both. Even'if a wise and 
faithful pastor were certain that the religious 
instruction of the children committed to his 
care would be adequately discharged without 
his aid ; still he ought, as we have seen, for 
his own sake, as well as theirs, to desire to 
bring his personal instruction into contact 
with their minds ; and thus to prepare them 
to love his person, and profit by his minis- 
try ; and to prepare himself to understand, in 
some measure, the character and wants of 
each, and the best means of doing them good. 
Nor ought these meetings with the children 
of the church to be so rare as they too com- 
monly are. Some pastors assemble their 
children to be catechized and addressed once 
or twice a year, and others, at most, once in 
two or three months. It is deliberately be- 
lieved by the Committee that such infrequent 
meetings are of little or no real value. As a 
source of instruction to the children, they are 
of very small advantage, if of any at all ; and 
as a means of making the pastor personally 
acquainted with the children, and enabling 
him to judge of the temper, capacity, and dis- 
position of each ; to adapt himself to their re- 
spective characters ; to mark the progress or 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 35 

retrocession of each ; and to gain the confi- 
dence and affection of all — they might almost 
as well be omitted. These interviews ought 
to take place every week — to be attended 
with as much punctuality as the public exer- 
cises of the Sabbath ; and to be engaged in 
with pencil and memorandum-book in hand, 
so that the appearance and outmaking of each 
may be kept in mind from week to week ; and 
to be conducted throughout with the indefati- 
gable diligence, patience, and affection which 
are adapted to reach and win the hearts of the 
children. In large congregations, the mem- 
bers of which are widely scattered, it may 
not be easy, or even practicable to meet all 
the children of the same church, in a single 
body, once in every week. In this case, it may 
be expedient to have two or three little as- 
semblies of children convened in different 
parts of the congregation every week ; and 
once in each month, the whole of the children 
and young people of the congregation may be 
assembled in the afternoon of the Lord's day, 
in the church ; and there, instead of the usual 
afternoon service, a service intended especially 
for their benefit may be conducted, in the pre- 
sence of their parents and others, in such a 
manner as to be even more instructive, solemn, 



36 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

and touching to all present than the ordinary- 
service. Bat this matter may be conducted, 
where circumstances render it expedient, 
somewhat differently. Suppose that there 
are three catechizing stations in different 
parts of the congregation. These may be all 
punctually attended in the same week, and 
even on the same day of the week, one by 
the pastor, and the other two by two of the 
elders. On the succeeding two weeks, the 
pastor may change places with his elders ; so 
that he may, in turn, attend every class once 
a month, and, at the end of the month, meet 
and address them all in a body, as before sug- 
gested. These exercises on the catechism will 
be of little value, if the children be merely 
called upon to repeat by memory the words 
of the formulary. Every answer ought to be 
analyzed and explained in the most simple 
and patient manner — condescending to the 
weakness of the youthful mind, and endea- 
vouring to communicate truth in the most 
practical and affectionate form. In any and 
every case, it is important that the elders take 
a part in this work, that they may become per- 
sonally acquainted with the children of the 
church, and also that the work may not be 
neglected when the pastor is unwell or absent. 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 37 

IX. It is recommended that one or more 
Bible Classes be established in every congre- 
gation. The best methods of conducting these 
will readily occur to every enlightened pastor, 
and although they are, and ought to be pri- 
marily intended and adapted for the instruc- 
tion of the young, they may, and ought to 
include as many, of both sexes and of all 
ages, as can be prevailed upon to engage in 
the study of the Bible. 

X. It is recommended that all the Sabbath 
schools in every congregation be under the 
constant supervision and direction of the pas- 
tor and eldership. 

Sabbath schools are too often surrendered 
to the guidance of irresponsible persons, and 
sometimes to persons making no profession, 
and manifesting no practical sense of reli- 
gion ; and whose teaching, of course, must be 
of a very equivocal character. And some- 
times books are introduced from well mean- 
ing donors, and regulations formed by no 
means adapted to promote the spiritual inter- 
ests of the children. Every thing of this kind 
ought to be avoided. All the teachers em- 
ployed, all the books used, and all the regu- 
lations adopted ought to be such as the pas- 
tor and session approve. The pastor, as 
often as his engagements allow, ought to step 



38 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

in, if it be but for a few minutes, to the vari- 
ous schools, and manifest his interest in them 
by a word of counsel or of prayer, as the 
case may be ; and thus put himself in the 
way of knowing personally how every thing 
is conducted, and how every thing prospers, 
and thus qualify himself to preside over the 
whole with intelligence and fidelity. 

XI. It is recommended that the baptized 
children of the church, be assembled three or 
four times in each year, and be affectionately 
addressed and prayed with by the pastor. At 
these interviews it will be generally advisa- 
ble to have the parents present, and also the 
elders, and to accompany the exercises with 
such tender appeals to parents, as peculiarly 
charged with the religious training of their 
offspring ; and to the elders, as being the 
spiritual overseers of the youth of the church, 
as may tend at once, to remind both of their 
duty, and to impress on their minds a sense of 
their solemn obligations. As almost every 
church may be supposed, of course, to have 
one or two social services, in the secular even- 
nings of each week, these interviews with 
baptized children may be made, once in three 
months, to take the place of one of these meet- 
ings, so as to avoid the undue multiplication 
of public services, which might prove oppres- 



CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 39 

sive both to the pastor and to the people of 
his charge. 

XII. It is earnestly recommended that all 
our Church Sessions, Presbyteries, and Sy- 
nods direct particular attention to this impor- 
tant subject. It will be expedient for them 
once a year, at least, to ascertain how this 
great concern stands in their bounds. And 
if they duly appreciate its importance, it will 
often engage their attention. They will feel 
that it is impossible too early to enter on the 
work of forming a large and digested system 
of religious training, which shall, in some 
good degree, carry us back to the habits of 
our venerated fathers, on this subject, with 
such improvements as the advantages and 
facilities furnished by modern times may ena- 
ble us to apply. 

XIII. It is recommended that the foregoing 
system, as far as applicable, be enjoined by 
the General Assembly to be adopted at all 
our missionary stations among the heathen. 
If it be important among the regular and es- 
tablished churches of Christendom, it is in 
some respects still more vitally important in 
evangelizing the pagan world. It is believed 
that the advantages of directing special at- 
tention to heathen youth, have never yet 
been either sufficiently appreciated or pursued. 



40 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

When the time shall come, in which, as the 
Scriptures declare, " nations shall be born in 
a day," perhaps nothing will be more likely 
to prepare the way for such wonders, than 
having previously scattered amongst youth 
the seeds of gospel truth. 

It may, perhaps, be remarked by some, on 
a survey of the foregoing recommendations, 
that they present an amount of attention, and 
of unceasing labour which cannot fail of 
pressing heavily on the mind, the heart, and 
strength of every pastor. This is not denied. 
To accomplish, from year to year, the aggre- 
gate of what has been recommended, must 
indeed, make large draughts on the time, the 
thoughts, and the efforts of every spiritual 
overseer. But surely no faithful minister will 
complain of this. Can he wear out in any 
branch of labour more likely to turn to great 
account ? Can he devote himself to any ob- 
ject more worthy of his care ; more adapted 
to reward his work of faith and labour of 
love ; or more fitted to build up the Church, 
and promote his own acceptance and happi- 
ness, as an ambassador of Christ, than to 
train up a generation to serve God, when he 
shall have gone to his eternal reward ? 

THE END. 



EEPORT 



TO THE 



SYNOD OE NEW JERSEY 



ON THE SUBJECT OF 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 



Bx J. J. JANE WAY, D.D. 



4* (41) 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The Synod of New Jersey, in session at 
New Brunswick, October 16, 1844, passed 
the following resolution : 

" Whereas the Christian Education of the 
children and youth of the church lies at the 
foundation of her prosperity; whereas this 
matter has been, and continues to be, de- 
plorably neglected in most of our churches : 
and whereas there is no probability that this 
object can be in any good degree attained, 
unless it be systematically and patiently pur- 
sued by the Judicatories of the Church, 
Therefore, Resolved, That Drs. Janeway, 
Davidson, Magie, and Murray, Ministers, and 
Messrs. John J. Bryant and James Crane, 
Elders, be a Committee to inquire whether 
any, and if any, what further measures ought 
to be adopted to secure the formation of a 
wise and efficient plan in regard to this sub- 
ject, and for carrying the same into execu- 

iii 



iV ADVERTISEMENT. 

tion, and to make report at the next meeting 
of Synod." 

In pursuance of the above appointments, 
the following Report was presented to the 
Synod at their Session in 1845, was adopted, 
and ordered to be printed under the direction 
and revision of the Committee. 



REPORT 



ON 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 



The Committee appointed by the Synod, at 
its last meeting, "to inquire whether any, 
and, if any, what further measures ought to 
be adopted to secure the formation of a wise 
and efficient plan" for " the Christian educa- 
tion of the children and youth of the Church, 
and for carrying the same into execution;" 
respectfully submit the following Report. 

The Committee are deeply impressed with 
a sense of the great importance of an effici- 
ent plan for the religious education of our 
children and youth. They see the difficul- 
ties to be encountered in carrying any wise 
and adequate plan into effect ; but they are 
convinced, that efforts ought to be speedily 
made for affording to them greater advan- 

5 



6 REPORT ON 

tages, than they have hitherto enjoyed, for 
gaining a suitable knowledge of the great 
doctrines and precepts of our holy religion. 

The General Assembly of 1839, appointed 
" the Rev. Samuel Miller, Archibald Alexan- 
der, Charles Hodge, J. Addison Alexander, 
and James Carnahan, a committee to inquire 
whether any, and, if any, what measures 
ought to be adopted for securing to the child- 
ren and young people of our Church more 
full advantages of Christian education, than 
they have hitherto enjoyed." 

This committee, by their chairman, Doctor 
Miller, made a long, able, and comprehen- 
sive report on the subject, to the General As- 
sembly for 1840. "By a unanimous resolu- 
tion" of that Body, " it was referred to the 
Board of Publication with a view to its pub- 
lication." 

By the Assembly of 1844, " Messrs. J. W. 
Alexander, S. B. Wilson, Hoge, Young, 
Boardman, and Montfort, were appointed a 
committee to consider the expediency of es- 
tablishing Presbyterian Parochial Schools, 
and to report on the whole subject at the next 
meeting of the General Assembly." On the 
minutes of the Assembly for this year is the 
following record : " The Committee on Pa- 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 7 

rochial Schools appointed by the last As- 
sembly, reported, requesting longer time, and 
were continued. Messrs. Hoge and Mont- 
fort tendered their resignation, and Drs. Phil- 
lips and Snodgrass were appointed on the 
committee in their places." 

Here the Committee might give a brief 
sketch of the plan recommended for adop- 
tion by the Assembly of 1840; but as the 
committee will have occasion to notice it in 
a subsequent part of this report, they will 
now only remark, that the excellence of this 
plan, as will appear from reading the report, 
consists in this : that it contemplates giving 
to our youth a thorough moral and religi- 
ons training, under the supervision of pa- 
rents and church officers, through every stage 
of their education, from infancy to mature 
age. It is designed to form their morals and 
hearts, by the influence of divine truth, as 
well as to enlighten their understandings. 

Suppose the circumstances of the Presby- 
terian Church in this country, were such as 
to permit this plan to be immediately acted 
upon and carried into full operation, what a 
beneficial and wonderful change would it pro- 
duce ! Our children and youth would grow 
up imbued with the knowledge of the doc- 



8 REPORT ON 

trines and precepts of our holy religion, and 
sit under the preaching of the gospel pre- 
pared to hear the discourses delivered from 
the pulpit, with much greater advantage. 
They would be armed against the assaults 
of error, and saved from the danger of being 
enticed from the church of their fathers ; 
and, by the blessing of God on such means, 
many of them would be savingly converted, 
and become her spiritual members. A larger 
proportion too of our youth, it might be rea- 
sonably expected, would seek the ministry 
of the gospel ; and, by their previous training 
would enter Theological Seminaries with 
higher qualifications, and leave them with 
richer furniture for their great work, and be- 
come able, learned, and devoted ministers of 
Jesus Christ. 

That objections may be urged against this 
plan, the Committee are well aware. To 
the principal ones they will endeavour to 
give a candid answer. It may be objected 
that the plan is too sectarian ; — that it will 
interfere with the establishment of Public 
Schools; — and that it is impracticable and 
visionary. 

1. In reply to the first objection, we wish 
it to be distinctly recollected, that the Pres- 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 9 

byterian Church is, among her sister churches 
in this country, distinguished by the Creed 
and Form of Government which she has 
adopted, and published for the information 
of the world. Now, if she believes these 
doctrines, and form of government to be 
scriptural, she is unquestionably bound to en- 
deavour to propagate the one, and to establish 
the other, as extensively as she may be able ; 
and especially to teach them to her children 
and youth. It is certainly the duty of a pa- 
rent to instruct his children in the doctrines 
and form of church government, which he 
believes to be in accordance with the Sacred 
Scriptures. While he is diligently engaged 
in discharging this duty, he cannot be justly 
reproached as acting inconsistently with what 
he owes to others. The church sustains the 
relation of a parent to her members ; the 
duties of a parent are binding on her ; and 
she, while acting like a parent, is as free 
from blame as a parent who performs the 
duties he owes to his children. 

To bring against our church the charge of 
sectarianism, because she adopts measures for 
teaching her children the knowledge of her 
creed and ecclesiastical order, is idle. It is 
giving to a word a perverted meaning ; and, 
5 



10 REPORT ON 

by the abuse of a word, attempting to deter 
her from doing an obvious duty. 

The Presbyterian Church, as already said, 
differs in her creed and form of church 
government, from her sister churches in this 
country, and in communicating instruction to 
her children, (no one will affirm she is bound 
to withhold instruction from them,) she must 
either teach what she believes, or teach 
nothing more than what all sects believe. 
But who has a right to prescribe the latter as 
her rule ? Who can free her from obligation 
to teach whatever God teaches in his word ? 
Are not the sacred Scriptures the standard 
of faith, and is she not bound to fashion her 
own faith, as well as the faith of her mem- 
bers, by this infallible standard ? To this 
divine standard she must conform ; and as 
she may not add to it, so she may not take 
from it. Had she done her duty more faith- 
fully, and instructed her children and youth 
more diligently, so rich and blessed a harvest 
would have been reaped from the seed sown 
and labour bestowed, that she would regard 
the charge of sectarianism as idle wind. 
Coming from her own members, she would 
consider it either as a mark of ignorance, or 
as an indication of unsoundness in the faith ; 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 11 

and coming from others she would despise it 
as a senseless accusation, 

2. The second objection that may be made 
to the plan, is, that it will interfere with the 
establishment of Public Schools. 

In replying to this objection, the Committee 
admit, that public schools, both in New Eng- 
land and in the state of New York, have 
been useful in diffusing knowledge through 
the community. Children and young per- 
sons have been taught in them the elements 
of learning and science, together with some 
moral precepts. When first established in 
New England, these schools were under a 
religious influence, and aimed at forming 
the heart, as well as enlightening the mind. 
The inculcation of religious truth was not 
considered by our Puritan forefathers as un- 
suitable to public schools. Not only was the 
Bible read, but the Assembly's Shorter Cate- 
chism was diligently taught in them. The 
multiplication of Christian sects, however, in 
that part of our country, has expelled from 
many schools that invaluable Catechism, and 
greatly deteriorated their beneficial influence. 
Many are now accommodated to the taste of 
Unitarians, Socinians, and Universalists. 

In the city of New York, the Roman Ca- 



12 REPORT ON 

tholics have aimed at subjecting the public 
schools to their own control ; and to meet the 
wishes of this sect, every thing offensive to 
their taste was expunged from the school- 
books ; not excepting historical facts, reflect- 
ing on the conduct of papal Rome in former 
years. A favour that would not be granted 
to any other Christian denomination, was not 
sufficient to satisfy their unreasonable de- 
mands, The reading of the Bible in the 
schools was displeasing to them; and had 
not the friends of that divine book interposed 
their influence, the teachers would have been 
prohibited reading its inspired pages to their 
young pupils. So liable to abuse are schools 
under the control of the state. What dis- 
graceful disclosures in regard to the conduct 
of certain trustees and teachers of the 
schools, in a particular ward of the city of 
New York, have been made in the trial of 
Dr. Reese ! Are children, while receiving 
education, to be entrusted to the care of such 
men ! 

The education of her young members, 
belongs to the Church ; and to her they have 
a right to look for better schools than the 
state can provide ; schools in which they will 
be taught to know God and his Son Jesus 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 13 

Christ, and the way of salvation. The State 
cannot educate them aright; nor may the 
Church resign them for this purpose to the 
State. She cannot, consistently with her high 
obligations, devolve on the State a duty 
which was assigned to her by her glorious 
Head, long before these public schools were 
thought of. 

The State regards its young citizens merely 
as inhabitants of this world, and feels itself 
bound to provide only for their present wel- 
fare. It has no reference to a future world ; 
it makes no provision for their instruction in 
the way of salvation. The Church, on the 
other hand, regards her children as young 
immortals ; committed to her care, that she 
may train them up for the enjoyment of future 
happiness and glory in another world. Fidel- 
ity to her trust requires her to teach them 
the great doctrines and precepts of our holy 
religion: the character and offices, the hu- 
miliation and work, the love and grace of her 
Divine Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord. To 
neglect this is to betray her trust. 

The Church has been remiss in her duty. 

Oh ! that she were duly impressed with her 

failure ! The public mind is aroused, in a 

measure to a sense of the importance of 

5* 



14 REPORT ON 

diffusing knowledge through the community ; 
but it is not impressed with a conviction of 
the unutterable importance of sound morals 
and true religion. Knowledge is not a suffi- 
cient basis for the support of our free insti- 
tutions. They demand a broader and firmer 
foundation; knowledge and sound morality, 
and both sanctified by true religion. It is 
the Church's vocation to produce this con- 
viction on the public mind. Let her awake 
then to her high destiny. Let her use every 
means she can devise for this great purpose. 
While labouring, by her ministers and mis- 
sionaries, to publish the great doctrines, and 
that perfect moral code, revealed in the 
Scriptures, to all within her reach ; let her 
remember that she is bound especially to 
watch over her youth, and see that their 
minds be well imbued with divine truth, and 
their memories stored with the precepts of 
Christianity. 

Now, if all the churches, of every deno- 
inination of Christians in these United States, 
were to waken up, and to establish schools 
for their children and youth, taught by in- 
telligent, pious, competent teachers, under 
the supervision of church-officers, the salutary 
effects of the system would soon become 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 15 

very apparent. The conduct of pupils coming 
forth from such schools, would compare well 
with the conduct of pupils from public schools. 
The State, seeing their establishments to be, 
in a great measure, unnecessary, would gra- 
dually come to occupy its proper place, by 
affording aid to Church schools; just as it 
now furnishes aid to Academies and Colleges, 
under the supervision and control of incorpo- 
rated Trustees. 

But as the Church has failed in her duty, or 
been unable, from the circumstances in which 
she has been placed in a new country, inhab- 
ited by various sects of religion, weakening 
each other's strength, to make adequate pro- 
vision for the religious education of all her 
children ; the State has seen and felt the ne- 
cessity of erecting public schools, to dispel the 
prevailing ignorance of the people, and thus 
to qualify them for the exercise of their elec- 
tive franchise, and to bring to a successful 
result the great experiment making in this 
country, of a people governing themselves. 

But if no better than public schools be 
scattered over our country, designed only to 
enlighten the understanding, while the heart 
is neglected, and no efforts are made to incul- 
cate the doctrines, and impose on the con- 



16 REPORT ON 

science the restraints of revealed religion, 
the grand experiment, it is to be feared, will 
result in a melancholy disappointment. A 
race of irreligious and infidel youth, such as 
may be expected to issue from public schools, 
deteriorating, more and more, with revolv- 
ing years, will not be fit to sustain our free 
institutions. In such hands they will first be 
thrown by anarchy into wild confusion ; and 
then engulphed in one or more military des- 
potisms. 

Let the Church foresee the evil, and apply 
the remedy. Let her multiply her religious 
schools. Let her indoctrinate her youth in 
the knowledge of the great truths and duties 
of our divine religion ; let her mould their 
hearts by the gospel, and control and stimu- 
late their consciences by its touching and 
powerful motives. From such schools will 
come forth a race of intelligent, moral, and 
religious men, into whose hands the destiny 
of our beloved country might, under the 
smiles of a benignant providence, be safely en- 
trusted. They would solve the great problem 
to the full satisfaction of an admiring world. 

Let all the churches, of every dono?nina- 
tion in our country, engage in this great en- 
terprise of Christian benevolence ; and then, 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 17 

citizens, who love her interests, as well as 
their country, may seek an alteration in the 
law. They may, with a fair prospect of suc- 
cess, apply for a rule of the state, that every 
tax-payer, that every man, when he pays 
his tax for education, may signify to what 
denomination of Christians, it shall be ap- 
plied. By such a law each tax-payer would 
have the satisfaction of knowing that his 
money went to the support, not of error and 
irreligion, but of truth. If any should de- 
cline exercising their privilege their money 
would be entirely at the disposal of the State. 
May we not indulge the hope, that God 
will in mercy overrule the danger to be ap- 
prehended from the general establishment of 
public schools, from which religious instruc- 
tion of an efficient kind is excluded, to 
stir up his Church from her remissness, and 
to stimulate her to engage with great activity 
and zeal in establishing better schools ; in 
which the young shall be trained up in the 
knowledge of his inspired truth, and taught 
to fear his name, to believe in Christ for sal- 
vation, to serve their Creator, by practising 
every Christian duty, and adorning them- 
selves, with humility and every other lovely 
grace ? 



IS REPORT ON 

Among the ascension gifts bestowed by 
our ascended Lord on his Church, the apostle, 
in his epistle to the Ephesians, (chap. iv. 11.) 
names " Teachers." Commentators differ in 
their exposition of this name ; assigning dif- 
ferent employments to the persons designated 
by it. But may we not reasonably conclude, 
from its connexion with the word "Pastors" 
that they were appointed to assist pastors, by 
teaching young converts and the children of 
the Church the elementary principles of 
Christianity ? If this interpretation be cor- 
rect, then, the establishment of Church schools 
is enforced by apostolic example. That it is 
correct, appears from a passage in the epistle 
to the Romans, (chap. xii. 7.) where the apos- 
tle says, "or ministry, let us wait on our 
ministry ; or he that teacheth on teaching" 
Here it is admitted, even by commentators 
who give a different meaning to the word 
" teachers" in the preceding text, that such 
an office is referred to. This office was pecu- 
liarly necessary in primitive times, to prepare 
catechumens and young persons to hear with 
greater advantage, the discourses of pastors : 
and it is, at all periods of the Church, neces- 
sary and useful. 

3. A third objection may be urged against 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 19 

the plan reported to the General As- 
sembly, that it is impracticable and vi- 
sionary. 

Let us test this objection, and ascertain 
whether it is not far too sweeping in its con- 
demnation. Indeed, by a careful examina- 
tion of the plan, it will be seen, that in every 
particular it might be, in a short time, re- 
duced to practice, in a large portion of our 
church. 

The first particular in the plan is, "that 
the christian education of children be fre- 
quently brought before the people in the in- 
structions and devotional exercises of the 
pulpit ;" and the second, " that pastors pay 
particular attention, in their visits, to the 
children of every family." Here is nothing 
impracticable. One pastor may indeed do 
this better than another ; but every faithful 
minister may, by exercise, learn to reduce 
these recommendations to practice in some 
degree. 

Cannot almost every congregation estab- 
lish "one or more Church schools, adapted to 
children between six and ten years of age, to 
be taught by intelligent, pious females, se- 
lected by the Session ?" This is the third 
recommendation. 



20 REPORT ON 

Equally practicable is the fourth particu- 
lar, which recommends, " that, in populous 
towns, infant schools be established, as far 
as circumstauces will admit." 

The fifth recommendation is, " that there 
be established in every Presbytery one 
grammar school, or academy, and in the 
larger and opulent Presbyteries more than 
one, adapted for training youth in more ad- 
vanced branches of knowledge, and pre- 
paring such as may desire it, for an intro- 
duction into college." In regard to this it is 
admitted, that some of our Presbyteries are 
too small and feeble to sustain a grammar 
school ; but many have sufficient ability for 
the purpose ; and, in the course of a few 
years, the weak ones may become strong. 
The remarks under this particular, by the 
Committee who prepared and recommended 
the plan, are worthy of attentive considera- 
tion. 

The sixth recommendation must com- 
mend itself to every christian's judgment as 
obligatory and wise. It is this, " that when 
a youth is to be sent to college, the utmost 
care be exercised in selecting an institution 
in which his moral and religious training 
will receive the most faithful attention." 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 21 

The seventh is equally wise and obliga- 
tory. It relates to the duty of parents and 
heads of families spending an hour of the 
Sabbath evening in hearing their children re- 
cite the catechism, and giving them other 
oral instruction suited to their capacity. 
This duty needs to be recalled to the minds 
of parents and heads of families; for it is too 
much neglected. Many, it is believed, have 
declined in this useful practice ; because their 
children are taught in Sabbath schools. 
These schools are valuable aids ; but parents 
should remember they are not allowed to use 
them as a substitute, by devolving an impe- 
rative duty of their own upon others. Many 
Sabbath school teachers are not even pro- 
fessors of religion ; and surely no pious pa- 
rent should surrender his children to the 
teaching of such, without taking a supervi- 
sion over them, and exerting parental in- 
fluence, by adding his own instruction, both 
by catechising them, and giving other oral 
instruction. It behoves pastors to insist on 
this point, and to urge on parents the due 
and regular discharge of this important duty. 
Let parents imitate the wise and judicious 
practice of their departed ancestors, who 
were so exemplary in performing a duty so 
6 



22 REPORT ON 

intimately connected with the highest welfare 
of their offspring. 

The eighth recommendation, "that pas- 
tors and church sessions be diligently at- 
tentive to the catechising and religious in- 
struction of all the children under their care, 
through the whole course of their childhood 
and youth," cannot be objected to as imprac- 
ticable or unreasonable. If the details under 
this particular may seem a little startling, or 
as imposing an onerous duty, the committee 
offer such considerations as may serve to win 
over a mind unwilling at first to comply with 
them, and lead to attainments in practical 
duty, that, at the beginning, might be deemed 
unattainable. 

The ninth recommendation about the 
establishment of Bible Classes, is at once 
practicable and profitable to the young. 

The tenth, " that all the Sabbath-schools 
in every congregation be under the constant 
supervision and direction of the pastor and 
eldership," should never be forgotten. 

The original design of these schools was, 
to instruct the children of ungodly parents, 
gathered from the streets and alleys of the 
cities. In that stage of these useful institu- 
tions, the supervision of pastors and sessions, 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 23 

was not felt to be necessary. But when 
these schools were filled with the children of 
the Church, almost to the exclusion of those 
for whose benefit they were originally in- 
tended, this supervision was seen to be so 
proper and necessary, that the influence of 
the General Assembly was invoked to estab- 
lish it ; and that high court, deeming a recom- 
mendation to that effect required by the due 
government of our Church, did not hesitate 
to grant it. Any session that allows Sab- 
bath-schools to act independently of their 
supervision and direction, fails in the due 
exercise of that authority with which it is 
invested. 

The eleventh recommendation is, "that 
the baptized children of the Church be 
assembled three or four times in each year, 
and be affectionately addressed and prayed 
with by the pastor." This is a service that 
one who has been in the ministry for some 
time, will find no difficulty in performing ; 
and young pastors, by essaying it, will, in a 
few years, find themselves enabled to per- 
form it, with increasing facility. 

The twelfth, and thirteenth which is the 
last, present nothing impracticable, as will be 



24 REPORT ON 

seen at once by any one who barely reads 
them. 

Thus it appears, that the plan reported to 
the General Assembly of 1840, which may, 
at first reading, seem repulsive, from the 
change of habits it contemplates producing, 
when carefully examined, in all its parti- 
culars, is seen to be practicable and truly 
desirable. 

The Committee would offer to this able 
and comprehensive plan an additional recom- 
mendation ; that in every congregation there 
be established one or more schools for the 
instruction of children, from eight to fourteen 
years of age, by intelligent, pious male 
teachers, selected by the session, to prepare 
the youth to enter the Grammar School, at 
a proper age, and to carry on others, who do 
not intend to go to a Grammar school, to 
such attainments in knowledge, as will fit 
them for the avocations in life in which they 
are to be engaged. 

Now, in carrying the whole plan into exe- 
cution, the Committee allow, that difficulties, 
arising from various sources, will have to be 
encountered; but they see none that may 
not be overcome, by a due degree of care, 
patience, and perseverance. 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 25 

Look at Scotland. There such a plan has 
been completely realized. We are aware it 
may be objected, that the condition of our 
country is widely different from that of Scot- 
land. Admitted. We know our territory to 
be vastly more extensive than that of Scot- 
land ; that our population is far more sparse, 
and far less homogeneous, than that of Scot- 
land ; that the people of this country are cut 
up into a great variety of sects, intermingled 
with each other ; that many of our congre- 
gations are small and feeble, and composed, 
in some places, of persons of various habits ; 
and that prejudices exist in many minds 
against the adoption of such a plan. In 
view of all these things we are in favour of 
commencing operation, and hope that suc- 
cess will crown our exertions, sooner than in 
Scotland. There the General Assembly in 
1560 directed the Presbyteries "to settle a 
church-school in every parish, with a pious, 
orthodox, and well qualified teacher ;" but 
it was not till 1642, eighty -two years after- 
wards, that they directed "a Grammar 
school to be erected in every Presbytery." 
If our Presbyteries, Synods, and General 
Assembly begin to operate on the plan pro- 
posed, with zeal, and diligence, and perse- 
6 * 



26 REPORT ON 

verance, in less than eighty-two years, we, 
or our successors in the ministry, will see 
Church-schools established in very many 
Presbyterian congregations throughout the 
United States, and Grammar-schools in many 
Presbyteries in our connexion ; and our 
children and youth blest with advantages 
for acquiring knowledge, and receiving a 
moral and religious training, far superior to 
those which their fathers have enjoyed. 

The Committee are in favour of having 
carried into execution the whole plan pro- 
posed to the Assembly of 1840 ; and as 
several parts of it are already reduced to 
practice, by different pastors and sessions, 
they would recommend, that special atten- 
tion be paid to the establishment, in the con- 
gregations, of that description of schools now 
recommended. Such a school has been es- 
tablished in the Scotch Presbyterian Church, 
in Grand Street, New York. It is well en- 
dowed, and successfully conducted ; and has 
contributed much to the prosperity of that 
church. Similar schools have been con- 
nected with the new churches now forming 
in the upper parts of that city, through the 
liberal instrumentality of a wealthy family. 
And the establishment of similar schools in 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 21 

most, if not all the congregations under the 
care of this Synod, would not require a 
greater outlay of money, than is now 
required for the due education of their 
children. 

What seems particularly necessary in the 
commencement of this great plan of Chris- 
tian education, is, the awakening of the at- 
tention of our congregations to the unutter- 
able importance of securing to their children 
a moral and religious training. They are not 
impressed on this subject as they ought to be ; 
and means should be used to produce the im- 
pression. Pastors and sessions need to be 
aroused, and**b feel more deeply than they 
have hitherto felt, the duty of paying greater 
attention to the religious education of the 
children and youth of their congregations. 

In conclusion the committee submit for 
adoption the following resolutions : 

1. Resolved that it be recommended to all 
the pastors, elders, and intelligent individuals 
in our congregations, to purchase and care- 
fully read the report on the subject of Chris- 
tian Education made to the Assembly of 1840, 
and published, in conformity to their resolu- 
tion, by the Board of Publication.* 

* No. 48 of the Society's Publications, price 25 cents. 



28 REPORT ON PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

2. Resolved, that it be recommended to all 
the pastors, belonging to the Synod, to preach 
at an early season, on the subject of a proper 
Christian education of children, with a view 
to calling up the attention of their people to 
this important matter, and of producing on 
their minds a conviction of its unutterable 
value. 

3. Resolved, that it be recommended to 
the pastors and sessions to endeavour to es- 
tablish, in their respective congregations, that 
class of schools recommended by your com- 
mittee. 

4. Resolved, that the Presbyteries of this Sy- 
nod be directed to inquire annually what is 
doing in regard to the Christian education of 
children, by their pastors and sessions. 

5. Resolved, that this Synod will institute 
annually an inquiry on this subject. 

6. Resolved, that the Stated Clerk report 
to the General Assembly that this Synod have 
taken action on this subject. 



Stereotyped by 

S. DOUGLAS WYETH, 

No. 7 Pear St. Philadelphia. 



